With five stores already in China, British lifestyle brand Cath Kidston has just opened its first flagship in Shanghai.
Opened on November 3 on Shanghai’s upscale shopping street, Huai Hai Rd, the new flagship is the first China store to be positioned on a main shopping street and to be over two floors.
On its opening day, Cath Kidston had traditional London guards, red heritage telephone boxes for photo opportunities and iconic Cath Kidston prints on Mini Coopers driving around Shanghai as mobile adverts. Inside the store there was face painting, a photo opportunity in a red London bus peep board and prizes.
The location was chosen for two reasons: as a double-sided building, allowing it to fully showcase the brand and as the property was a residential home when built in the 1930s, it looks like a house – perfect for its home of modern vintage.
Cath Kidston says the biggest challenge in opening the new flagship was the restoration of the building. The average life span of a building in Shanghai is 30 years – 666 Huai Hai Rd is 85 years old and had been neglected over many years, so it had to be fully repaired.
“We had to work very hard to achieve a restoration that is comparable to a UK standard,” it says.
